Apparatus for drawing and reeling wire



Jan. 26, 1937. 'H. ZARAFU 2,068,836

APPARATUS FOR DRAWING AND FEELING WIRE File d May 1; 1935 Patented Jan. 26, 19371 UNITED STATES v 2,068,836 APPARATUS FOR nRAwmG AND ,REELING wmn Herman Zarai'u, West New York, N. J., assignor to Elevator Supplies Company, Incorporated,

Hoboken, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application May 1, 1935, Serial No. 19,153

6 Claims. (01. 205-16) This invention relates to apparatus for drawing and reeling vwire and provides improvements therein.

The wire drawing part of the apparatus has different motivation characteristic from the reeling part of the apparatus, particularly with respect to the power (electric motors) for driving each of them and with respect to the inertia on starting and stopping, The 'wire drawing part requires essentially a powerful motor of the constant speed'type, while the reeling-part requires a motor which is relatively weak and which can gradually slow down as the wire builds up on the reel. Because the reel motor must gradually slow down after running speed has been attained, and for other reasons, the use oi one motor for: driving the two units is not practically feasible. For successful results, the reeling unit should operate to maintain an approximately constant tension on the wire not only during acceleration but throughout the running of the combined,

unlts. 7

Various solutions of the problem of obtaining auniiormity or acceleration of the motors of the two units have been proposed. The one most generally adopted is to provide a multiple-step accelerating electrical controller for the motor of the wire-drawing unit and to operate it to accelerate the motor oi. the drawing unit step-wise (retafrdedw acceleration) so as to bring about as nearly as possible a conformation between the accelerations of. the two units. This requires the useof expensive motors and expensive and complex speed control apparatus and requires a. rela tively long time for the two motors to reach full operating speed. Moreover during the accelerating period there is always the danger of the wire ,drawing unit being driven too fast with relation to the reeling unit, causing excessive slippage of the wire in the wire-drawing unit, with consequent "burning or of the wire-drawln'g unit being driven tooslow with relation to the reelingunit, causing excessive tension on and breaking of the wire, The inertia of the reeling-unit when there arethe same disadvantages arising from disconformity of the speeds of the reeling unit and drawing unit on deceleration as there are on the apparatus, and its purpose is to prevent exacceleration.' The difliculties hereinbefore mentioned are greatly accentuated in high speed apparatus.

The present invention provides a combination of reeling and drawing ts in which the ad- 5 celerating time is material] ecreased as compared with previous combinations; in,which the dangers of breaking and. burning of the wire is greatly reduced; and in which expensive and complicated control apparatus for the drawingunit motor is not required, and a simple and the least expensive type of motors may be used.

. An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a combination wire drawing'and reeling apparatus incorporating the present improvements.

Fig. 2 is a rear-elevation of the reeling unit.'

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are detail views.

Referring to said drawing, numeral l0 designates the wire drawing unit and 20 the reeling unit. The wire drawing unit may be of. the usualor any suitable and well known construction. A typical wire drawing unit comprises a plurality of dies l2 and aplurality of drums l4, one after each die, around which one or more turns of the wire are wound. The dies act to successively reduce the diameter of the wire. The drums II are driven through suitable gearing at different speeds by a motor I6. The increase in speed of one drum over another through the series is slightly less than that required to take upon the drum the elongation of the wire due to its passage through a die. This arrangement results in an intermittent lessening of the tension of the wire between a die and'a drum, andconsequently of. the tension of the wire around the drum. This results in alternate seizing and slipping between the wireand drum throughout the operation of cessive tensioning and breaking of the wire within the drawing-unit, as is usual and well understood. Wire to be drawn may come from a reel l8. The motor IS in the present combination may 'be a constant speed electric motor of simple construction, and current may be supplied thereto in such a 'way as to accelerate the wire drawin unit to full speed in the shortest time that it is possible to bring the motor to full speed .with'its load.

The reeling unit comprises a reel or spool -22 mounted on a spindle I 9 which is driven by so that the reel 22 may be driven by the motor l9 of the wire drawing unit on starting and while the units are accelerating to running speed. The gearing 39 may comprise a gear 32 mounted on a shaft 39 forming an extension of the shaft of one of the drums 33, and a gear 35 on a sleeve 36 turning on the shaft 31, which sleeve 36 also has fixed thereon a sprocket wheel 38. shaft I 9 has mounted loosely thereon another sprocket wheel 49, and' these two sprockets are connected by a sprocket chain 42. The gears 32 and 35 may be parts of a changespeed gearing as illustrated. A change in the ratio of the gears 32 and 35 may be effected by the change speed gearing to accommodate the speed imparted to the reeling unit by the gearing 39 to spools of different diameter on the reeling unit.

A clutch 45 is provided for connecting the sprocket wheel 49 to the reel shaft l9. To this end.

the reel shaft l9 may have fixed thereon a ratchet wheel 41 having undercut teeth 48. Pivotally mounted on the sprocket wheel 49 is a pawl 49 adapted to engage the teeth 48 on the ratchet wheel. The pawl 49 is pressed toward the ratchet wheel 41 by spring 59, which spring acts upon an arm II on the pawl, and the angular relation between the spring 99 and arm 9| are such that the spring presses the pawl toward the ratchet wheel 41,

through a certain range of movement of said pawl. When however the pawl 49 reaches a predetermined position in its movement, the' spring 99 will act on the arm-5| in such manner as to press the pawl 49 around its pivot in theopposite direction, and hold the pawl out of contact with the ratchet wheel. The toothed end of pawl 49 is weighted to-such an extent that the centrifugal force developed in the aforesaid weighted-end resetting pawl 49 to engage the ratchet-wheel 41, .before each starting of the combined units l9 and 29. A pin 92 projecting outwardly from pawl 49 can be grasped by the fingers, and thus permits of manual operation of the pawl to a position where it engages the ratchet wheel 41.

Means are also preferably provided for retarding the speed of the reel when it starts to run ahead of the drawing-unit, as for example when power is thrown oflf of the motors i9 and 24. In the act .of stopping, the greater eflfective momentum of the reel causes it to run ahead of the movement of the parts of the drawing unit running under their momentum. Numeral 99 designates a brake shoe pivoted in proximity to .a brake drum 92 on the reelv shaft l9. The brake shoe 99 is connected to a lever 94 through a link 99. Acting against the brake shoe is aspring 99, the tension of which is slightly greater than a predetermined tension which the reeling unit maintains on the wire coming from the drawing unit, hereinafter described. .-The lever 94 has thereon an arm 91 extending across the width of the spool on which the wire is wound, and the arm. has mounted loosely thereon a roller or wheel 99 around which the wire passes after leaving the drawing unit and before it winds on The reel 2,oes,sse

connecting reeling unit 29 to the drawing unit l9,

the reel. The wire is distributed on the spool by means of a reeling guide 19 which is reciprocated across the width of the spool in the usual well known manner. The roller 99 carried by the lever 99, moves across the spool along with the reeling guide 19.

Operation unit is approximately the same, but slightly less,

as hereinbef'ore explained, than the wire speed on leaving the drawing unit i9. The reel is driven through the gearing 39 and accelerates at the same speed as the drawing unit l9. The centrif ugal force operating on the pawl 49 is prevented from throwing the pawl 49 out of engagement with the teeth 48 of the ratchet wheel 41 while there is torque between the clutch parts 49 and 41 by reason of the overhang of the teeth on the pawl 49. As soon asreel 22 reaches operating speed this torque ceases. The reeling motor 24 (already energized) now is capable of operating the reel (and ratchet wheel 41) at a slightly higher speed than that at which the reel is driven by motor l9 through gearing 99, sprocket 49 and pawl 49 thus causing tooth 49 to move away from pawl 49 whereupon centrifugal force acting on pawl is suflicient to move it completely out of engagement with ratchet wheel 41, where it is held by the spring 99, as heretofore explained. The slightly higher speed of ratchet wheel 41 creating overrunning and release, as mentioned above is caused by the fact that the motor 24 is capable of driving the reeling unit 29 to deveiope full wire speed at the reel surface, whereas the drive through gearing 99 and spr cket 49 runs the reel 22 at a slightly lower 5 ed with a consequent slight wire slip as heretofore explained.

The motor 24 of the reeling unit should be energized at the same time as motor l9 if motor I9 is energized in one accelerating step. when motor I8 is energized through a multiple step controller, the motor 24 should be energized at the-same time as the last step of acceleration is applied to motor l9. After operating speed is attained the reeling unit winds the wire going thereto from the drawing unit imder a desired predetermined tension. As the wire builds up on the spool of the reeling unit, the speed of the motor 24 is retarded or held back by the tension of the wire. the retardation being progressive throughout the winding of the wire.

On deenergizlng the motors l9 and 24, as in stopping, the momentum of the reeling unit 29 would cause it to run omead of the drawing unit l9 running under the momentum of its parts.

'This,will increase the tension on the wire. The

increased tension will pull the lever 94 against the resistance of the spring 99, and cause the brake shoe to act on the brake drum 92 and retard the speed of the reeling unit.

The invention may receive other embodiments than that herein specifically illustrated and dethe drums which pull the wire through the dies,

a reelingunit comprising a reel and having a relatively weak motor capable of driving the reel to maintain a desired tension on the wire coming from the drawing unit, gearing for connecting the said reel with the wire-drawing unit so as to be driven by the motor thereof, and a clutch for disconnecting said gearing from said reel when the drawing unit and the reeling unit have attainedza desired operating speed.

2. A combination according to claim 1 further comprising a brake for said reel, a lever for applying said brake having a roller thereon over which the wire passes before winding on said reel, and means for restraining movement of said lever at pulling-forces below the tension which it is desired to maintain on the wire.

3. A combination according to claim 1, wherein said gearing is arranged to impart a surface speed to said reel slightly less than the drawing speed of the wire.

4. A combination according to claim 1, said clutch comprising a pawl and a ratchetheel, and means for throwing said pawl to disengaging position when the reel reaches full operating speed.

5. A combination according to claim 1, said clutch comprising a pawl and a ratchet-wheel having teeth partially'overhanging the engagingpart of said pawl, and means for throwing said pawl to disengaging position when the reel reaches full operating speed.

6. A combination accordingf to claim 1, said clutch comprising a pawl and a ratchet-wheel, means for throwing said pawl to disengaging position when the reel reaches full operating speed, and means for resetting said pawl inengagement with said ratchet wheel prior to the restarting of the driving and reeling units. 

